There are a lot of demoralizing and distressing stories of kid-on-kid harassment and abuse in this NYT piece on cyberbullying. But the single most depressing element? The reaction of one bully's parents:

Last night's episode of Kid Nation — the show that's like Survivor meets Lord of the Flies and set in the Old West — featured a mini-battle of the sexes. With an impending election, the town split up into boys-against-girls. It's really evident in the clips how much more socially-sophisticated and domineering girls…

You know how reality TV in general is condescending and exploitative, to its audiences and participants both? Well CBS' new reality show Kid Nation — think Lord of the Flies without Simon plotting to kill and without Piggy tumbling to his death — is all these things but worse. Because, naturally, it involves children.…